Methods and systems for evaluating compliance of communication of a dispatcher

ABSTRACT

Methods and systems for evaluating compliance of communication of a dispatcher. One system includes an electronic computing device that includes an input device, a transceiver, and one or more electronic processors. The one or more electronic processors are configured to monitor communication between a dispatcher and a caller during a call and determine a type of call. The one or more electronic processors are further configured to determine a conversational procedure based on the type of call and compare a characteristic of the monitored communication to a constraint of the conversational procedure. The one or more electronic processors are further configured to determine that the characteristic of the monitored communication is outside the constraint of the conversational procedure and take an action as a function of determining that the characteristic of the monitored communication is outside the constraint of the conversational procedure.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present patent application is a continuation of U.S. applicationSer. No. 15/836,397, filed Dec. 8, 2017, now U.S. Pat. No. 10,276,031,the entire content of which is incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Dispatchers (for example, public safety dispatchers) receive calls,evaluate an incident that is being described by a caller, and formulatea proper response to attempt to help a caller with the incident. Inattempting to help the caller, often times dispatchers use scripts thatprovide a list of questions and information to be provided to the callerfor predetermined incidents (for example, an incident in which a callerneeds to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR)). Additionally,often times dispatchers communicate with a third party (for example, afirst responder) to have the third party travel to the location of theincident to assist the caller with the incident. For example, thedispatcher may communicate with an emergency medical services agency toinform paramedics that an ambulance is needed at a location where aperson had a heart attack. To receive calls and communicate with thirdparties, dispatchers use various devices including, for example,tablets, laptops, desktop computers, phones (for example, cellular orsatellite), and devices with interactive displays.

Many such devices further comprise, or provide access to, electronicdigital assistants (or sometimes referenced as “virtual partners”) thatmay provide the user thereof with valuable information in an automated(for example, without further user input) or semi-automated (forexample, with some further user input) fashion. The valuable informationprovided to the user may be based on explicit requests for suchinformation posed by the user via an input (for example, such as aparsed natural language input or an electronic touch interfacemanipulation associated with an explicit request) in which theelectronic digital assistant may reactively provide such requestedvaluable information, or may be based on some other set of one or morecontext or triggers in which the electronic digital assistant mayproactively provide such valuable information to the user absent anyexplicit request from the user.

As some existing examples, electronic digital assistants such as Siriprovided by Apple, Inc.® and Google Now provided by Google, Inc.®, aresoftware applications running on underlying electronic hardware that arecapable of understanding natural language, and may complete electronictasks in response to user voice inputs, among other additional oralternative types of inputs. These electronic digital assistants mayperform such tasks as taking and storing voice dictation for futurereference and retrieval, reading a received text message or an e-mailmessage aloud, generating a text message or e-mail message reply,looking up requested phone numbers and initiating a phone call to arequested contact, generating calendar appointments and providingappointment reminders, warning users of nearby dangers such as trafficaccidents or environmental hazards, and providing many other types ofinformation in a reactive or proactive manner.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying figures, where like reference numerals refer toidentical or functionally similar elements throughout the separateviews, which together with the detailed description below areincorporated in and form part of the specification and serve to furtherillustrate various embodiments of concepts that include the claimedinvention, and to explain various principles and advantages of thoseembodiments.

FIGS. 1A and 1B are system diagrams illustrating a system for operatingan electronic digital assistant, in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 2 is a device diagram showing a device structure of a communicationdevice of the system of FIGS. 1A and 1B in accordance with someembodiments.

FIG. 3 illustrates a flow chart of a method of evaluating compliance ofcommunication of a dispatcher in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 4 illustrates a flow chart of a method of determining a severitylevel of a call between a dispatcher and a caller and taking an actionto assist the dispatcher when the severity level exceeds a predeterminedseverity level threshold in accordance with some embodiments.

Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures areillustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily beendrawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements inthe figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help toimprove understanding of embodiments of the present invention.

The apparatus and method components have been represented whereappropriate by conventional symbols in the drawings, showing only thosespecific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments ofthe present invention so as not to obscure the disclosure with detailsthat will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the arthaving the benefit of the description herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Dispatchers (for example, public safety dispatchers) receive callsrelating to incidents of various degrees of severity. For example, acall relating to a cat stuck in a tree may be considered to have a lowseverity level while a call relating to a person having heart attack maybe considered to have a high severity level. Depending on the severitylevel of the incident, the speed at which information from the call isrelayed to a third party (for example, a first responder) may beimportant. With reference to the above examples, it may be moreimportant to immediately dispatch paramedics to the location of theperson having the heart attack than to immediately dispatch afirefighter to the location of the cat stuck in the tree.

Additionally, as noted above, dispatchers often use scripts that providea list of questions and information to be provided to the caller forpredetermined incidents. When dispatchers deviate from the script orproceed through the script too slowly, it may be indicative that thecaller does not understand the information that the dispatcher isattempting to convey or that the dispatcher is not conveying accurate oruseful information to the caller. In some situations, the severity levelof the incident may increase when dispatchers deviate from the script orproceed through the script too slowly.

Among other things, disclosed are a method, device, and system for anelectronic digital assistant to evaluate compliance of communication ofa dispatcher. The electronic digital assistant may determine a severitylevel of a call and take action when the severity level of the callexceeds a predetermined severity level threshold (for example,dispatching a public safety officer to the location of the incident).The electronic digital assistant may also monitor communication betweenthe dispatcher and a caller and compare a characteristic of themonitored communication (for example, content of the communication) to aconstraint of conversational procedure (for example, a script for thetype of incident to which the call relates).

One embodiment provides an electronic computing device that includes aninput device, a transceiver, and one or more electronic processorscommunicatively coupled to the transceiver. The one or more electronicprocessors are configured to monitor communication between a dispatcherand a caller during a call. The one or more electronic processors arefurther configured to determine a type of call based on one or more ofthe monitored communication and metadata received via the input device.The one or more electronic processors are further configured todetermine a conversational procedure based on the type of call andcompare a characteristic of the monitored communication to a constraintof the conversational procedure. The one or more electronic processorsare further configured to determine that the characteristic of themonitored communication is outside the constraint of the conversationalprocedure. The one or more electronic processors are further configuredto take an action as a function of determining that the characteristicof the monitored communication is outside the constraint of theconversational procedure.

Another embodiment provides a method of evaluating compliance ofcommunication of a dispatcher. The method includes monitoring, with anelectronic computing device, communication between the dispatcher and acaller during a call. The method further includes determining, with theelectronic computing device, a type of call based on one or more of themonitored communication and metadata received via an input device. Themethod further includes determining, with the electronic computingdevice, a conversational procedure based on the type of call. The methodfurther includes comparing, with the electronic computing device, acharacteristic of the monitored communication to a constraint of theconversational procedure. The method further includes determining, withthe electronic computing device, that the characteristic of themonitored communication is outside the constraint of the conversationalprocedure. The method further includes taking an action, with theelectronic computing device, as a function of determining that thecharacteristic of the monitored communication is outside the constraintof the conversational procedure.

Each of the above-mentioned embodiments will be discussed in more detailbelow, starting with example communication system and devicearchitectures of the system in which the embodiments may be practiced,followed by an illustration of processing steps for achieving themethod, device, and system for an electronic digital assistant. Furtheradvantages and features consistent with this disclosure will be setforth in the following detailed description, with reference to thefigures.

1. Communication System and Device Structures

a. Communication System Structure

Referring now to the drawings, and in particular FIG. 1A, acommunication system diagram illustrates a system 100 of devicesincluding a first set of devices that a user 102 (illustrated in FIG. 1Aas a first responder police officer) may wear, such as a primarybattery-powered portable radio 104 used for narrowband and/or broadbanddirect-mode or infrastructure communications, a battery-powered radiospeaker microphone (RSM) video capture device 106, a laptop 114 havingan integrated video camera and used for data applications such asincident support applications, smart glasses 116 (for example, which maybe virtual reality, augmented reality, or mixed reality glasses),sensor-enabled holster 118, and/or biometric sensor wristband 120.Although FIG. 1A illustrates only a single user 102 with a respectivefirst set of devices, in other embodiments, the single user 102 mayinclude additional sets of same or similar devices, and additional usersmay be present with respective additional sets of same or similardevices as indicated by FIG. 1B. In some embodiments, the system 100includes one or more tablets, interactive whiteboards, and/or otherinteractive displays that include an input device that is sensitive tocontact from, for example, a stylus or a user's finger (and that may bereferred to as a touch sensitive display). In some embodiments, one orboth of the portable radio 104 and the laptop 114 include a touchsensitive display.

System 100 may also include a vehicle 132 associated with the user 102having an integrated mobile communication device 133, an associatedvehicular video camera 134, and a coupled vehicular transceiver 136.Although FIG. 1A illustrates only a single vehicle 132 with a singlemobile communication device 133, respective single vehicular videocamera 134 and/or microphone, and a single coupled vehicular transceiver136, in other embodiments, the vehicle 132 may include additional sameor similar mobile communication devices, video cameras, microphones,and/or transceivers, and additional vehicles may be present withrespective additional sets of mobile communication devices, videocameras, microphones, and/or transceivers. In some embodiments, thevehicle 132 may include one or more communication devices that include atouch sensitive display (for example, the mobile communication device133).

Each of the portable radio 104, RSM video capture device 106, laptop114, vehicular mobile communication device 133, and other devices may becapable of directly wirelessly communicating via direct-mode wirelesslink(s) 142, and/or may be capable of wirelessly communicating via awireless infrastructure radio access network (RAN) 152 over respectivewireless link(s) 140, 144 and via corresponding transceiver circuits.These devices may be referred to as communication devices and areconfigured to receive inputs associated with the user 102 and/or provideoutputs to the user 102 in addition to communicating information to andfrom other communication devices and the infrastructure RAN 152.

The RAN 152 may be a wired or wireless communication network. All orparts of the RAN 152 may be implemented using various existing networks,for example, a land mobile radio (LMR) network, a Long Term Evolution(LTE) network, a Bluetooth™ network, a wireless local area network (forexample, Wi-Fi), a Machine-to-machine (M2M) autonomous network, and apublic switched telephone network. The RAN 152 may also include futuredeveloped networks. In some embodiments, the RAN 152 may also include acombination of the networks mentioned previously herein.

In the example of FIG. 1, the portable radio 104 may form the hub ofcommunication connectivity for the user 102, through which otheraccessory devices, such as a biometric sensor (for example, thebiometric sensor wristband 120), an activity tracker, a weapon statussensor (for example, the sensor-enabled holster 118), a heads-up-display(for example, the smart glasses 116), the RSM video capture device 106,and/or the laptop 114 may communicatively couple.

In order to communicate with and exchange video, audio, and other mediaand communications with the RSM video capture device 106, laptop 114,and/or smart glasses 116, the portable radio 104 may contain one or morephysical electronic ports (such as a USB port, an Ethernet port, anaudio jack, etc.) for direct electronic coupling with the RSM videocapture device 106, laptop 114, and/or smart glasses 116. In someembodiments, the portable radio 104 may contain a short-rangetransmitter and/or transceiver for wirelessly coupling with the RSMvideo capture device 106, laptop 114, and/or smart glasses 116. Theshort-range transmitter may be a Bluetooth, Zigbee, or NFC transmitterhaving a transmit range on the order of 0.01-100 meters, or 0.1-10meters. In other embodiments, the RSM video capture device 106, thelaptop 114, and/or the smart glasses 116 may contain their ownlong-range transceivers and may communicate with one another and/or withthe infrastructure RAN 152 or vehicular transceiver 136 directly withoutpassing through portable radio 104.

The RSM video capture device 106 provides voice functionality featuressimilar to a traditional RSM, including one or more of acting as aremote microphone that is closer to the user's 102 mouth, providing aremote speaker allowing playback of audio closer to the user's 102 ear,and including a PTT switch or other type of PTT input. The voice and/oraudio recorded at the remote microphone may be provided to the portableradio 104 for storage and/or analysis or for further transmission toother mobile communication devices or the infrastructure RAN 152, or maybe directly transmitted by the RSM video capture device 106 to othercommunication devices or to the infrastructure RAN 152. The voice and/oraudio played back at the remote speaker may be received from theportable radio 104 or received directly from one or more othercommunication devices or the infrastructure RAN 152. The RSM videocapture device 106 may include a separate physical PTT switch 108 thatfunctions, in cooperation with the portable radio 104 or on its own, tomaintain the portable radio 104 and/or RSM video capture device 106 in amonitor only mode, and which switches the device(s) to a transmit-onlymode (for half-duplex devices) or transmit and receive mode (forfull-duplex devices) upon depression or activation of the PTT switch108. The portable radio 104 and/or RSM video capture device 106 may formpart of a group communications architecture that allows a singlecommunication device to communicate with one or more group members (notshown) associated with a particular group of devices at a same time.

Additional features may be provided at the RSM video capture device 106as well. For example, a display screen 110 may be provided fordisplaying images, video, and/or text to the user 102 or to someoneelse. The display screen 110 may be, for example, a liquid crystaldisplay (LCD) screen or an organic light emitting display (OLED) displayscreen. In some embodiments, a touch sensitive input interface may beincorporated into the display screen 110 as well, allowing the user 102to interact with content provided on the display screen 110. A soft PTTinput may also be provided, for example, via such a touch interface.

A video camera 112 may also be provided at the RSM video capture device106, integrating an ability to capture images and/or video and store thecaptured image data (for further analysis) or transmit the capturedimage data as an image or video stream to the portable radio 104 and/orto other communication devices or to the infrastructure RAN 152directly. The video camera 112 and RSM remote microphone may be used,for example, for capturing audio and/or video of a field-of-viewassociated with the user 102, perhaps including a suspect and thesuspect's surroundings, storing the captured image and/or audio data forfurther analysis or transmitting the captured audio and/or video data asan audio and/or video stream to the portable radio 104 and/or to othercommunication devices or to the infrastructure RAN 152 directly forfurther analysis. An RSM remote microphone of the RSM video capturedevice 106 may be an omni-directional or unidirectional microphone orarray of omni-directional or unidirectional microphones that may becapable of identifying a direction from which a captured sound emanated.

In some embodiments, the RSM video capture device 106 may be replacedwith a more limited body worn camera that may include the video camera112 and/or microphone noted above for capturing audio and/or video, butmay forego one or more of the features noted above that transform thebody worn camera into a more full featured RSM, such as the separatephysical PTT switch 108 and the display screen 110, and remotemicrophone functionality for voice communications in cooperation withportable radio 104.

The laptop 114, in particular, may be any wireless communication deviceused for infrastructure RAN or direct-mode media communication via along-range or short-range wireless transmitter with other communicationdevices and/or the infrastructure RAN 152. The laptop 114 includes adisplay screen for displaying a user interface to an operating systemand one or more applications running on the operating system, such as abroadband PTT communications application, a web browser application, avehicle history database application, a workflow application, a forms orreporting tool application, an arrest record database application, anoutstanding warrant database application, a mapping and/or navigationapplication, a health information database application, and/or othertypes of applications that may require user interaction to operate. Thelaptop 114 display screen may be, for example, an LCD screen or an OLEDdisplay screen. In some embodiments, a touch sensitive input interfacemay be incorporated into the display screen as well, allowing the user102 to interact with content provided on the display screen. A soft PTTinput may also be provided, for example, via such a touch interface.

Front and/or rear-facing video cameras may also be provided at thelaptop 114, integrating an ability to capture video and/or audio of theuser 102 and the user's 102 surroundings, perhaps including afield-of-view of the user 102 and/or a suspect (or potential suspect)and the suspect's surroundings, and store and/or otherwise process thecaptured video and/or audio for further analysis or transmit thecaptured video and/or audio as a video and/or audio stream to theportable radio 104, other communication devices, and/or theinfrastructure RAN 152 for further analysis.

The smart glasses 116 may include a digital imaging device, anelectronic processor, a short-range and/or long-range transceiverdevice, and/or a projecting device. The smart glasses 116 may maintain abi-directional connection with the portable radio 104 and provide analways-on or on-demand video feed pointed in a direction of the user's102 gaze via the digital imaging device, and/or may provide a personaldisplay via the projection device integrated into the smart glasses 116for displaying information such as text, images, or video received fromthe portable radio 104 or directly from the infrastructure RAN 152. Insome embodiments, the smart glasses 116 may include its own long-rangetransceiver and may communicate with other communication devices and/orwith the infrastructure RAN 152 or vehicular transceiver 136 directlywithout passing through portable radio 104.

The sensor-enabled holster 118 may be an active (powered) or passive(non-powered) sensor that maintains and/or provides state informationregarding a weapon or other item normally disposed within the user's 102sensor-enabled holster 118. The sensor-enabled holster 118 may detect achange in state (presence to absence) and/or an action (removal)relative to the weapon normally disposed within the sensor-enabledholster 118. The detected change in state and/or action may be reportedto the portable radio 104 via its short-range transceiver. In someembodiments, the sensor-enabled holster 118 may also detect whether thefirst responder's hand is resting on the weapon even if it has not yetbeen removed from the holster and provide such information to portableradio 104. In some embodiments, a weapon of the user 102 may include asensor that detects when the weapon is discharged. The detecteddischarge may be reported to the portable radio 104, for example. Otherpossibilities exist as well.

The biometric sensor wristband 120 may be an electronic device fortracking an activity of the user 102 or a health status of the user 102,and may include one or more movement sensors (such as an accelerometer,magnetometer, and/or gyroscope) that may periodically or intermittentlyprovide to the portable radio 104 indications of orientation, direction,steps, acceleration, and/or speed, and indications of health such as oneor more of a captured heart rate, a captured breathing rate, and acaptured body temperature of the user 102, perhaps accompanying otherinformation. In some embodiments, the biometric sensor wristband 120 mayinclude its own long-range transceiver and may communicate with othercommunication devices and/or with the infrastructure RAN 152 orvehicular transceiver 136 directly without passing through portableradio 104.

Although the biometric sensor wristband 120 is shown in FIG. 1A as abracelet worn around the wrist, in other examples, the biometric sensorwristband 120 may additionally and/or alternatively be worn aroundanother part of the body, or may take a different physical formincluding an earring, a finger ring, a necklace, a glove, a belt, orsome other type of wearable, ingestible, or insertable form factor. Insome embodiments, the biometric sensor wristband 120 or another deviceof the user 102 may detect characteristics of the environment of theuser 102 (for example, temperature, humidity, air quality, and thelike).

The portable radio 104, RSM video capture device 106, laptop 114, smartglasses 116, sensor-enabled holster 118, and/or biometric sensorwristband 120 may form a personal area network (PAN) via correspondingshort-range PAN transceivers, which may be based on a Bluetooth, Zigbee,Bluetooth Low Energy, WiFi, Near Field Communication (NFC), RadioFrequency ID (RFID) or other short-range wireless protocol having atransmission range on the order of meters, tens of meters, or hundredsof meters.

The portable radio 104 and/or RSM video capture device 106 (or any otherdevice in FIG. 1A, for that matter) may each include a locationdetermination device integrated with or separately disposed in theportable radio 104 and/or RSM 106 and/or in respective receivers,transmitters, or transceivers of the portable radio 104 and RSM 106 fordetermining a location of the portable radio 104 and RSM 106. Thelocation determination device may be, for example, a global positioningsystem (GPS) receiver or wireless triangulation logic using a wirelessreceiver or transceiver and a plurality of wireless signals received atthe wireless receiver or transceiver from different locations, amongother possibilities. The location determination device may also includean orientation sensor for determining an orientation that the device isfacing. Each orientation sensor may include a gyroscope and/or amagnetometer. Other types of orientation sensors could be used as well.The location may then be stored locally or transmitted via thetransmitter or transceiver to other communication devices and/or to theinfrastructure RAN 152.

The vehicle 132 associated with the user 102 may include the mobilecommunication device 133, the vehicular video camera 134 and/ormicrophone, and the vehicular transceiver 136, all of which may becoupled to one another via a wired and/or wireless vehicle area network(VAN), perhaps along with other sensors physically or communicativelycoupled to the vehicle 132. The vehicular transceiver 136 may includetransceiver for directly wirelessly communicating with communicationdevices such as the portable radio 104, the RSM 106, and the laptop 114via wireless link(s) 142 and/or for wirelessly communicating with theRAN 152 via wireless link(s) 144. The vehicular transceiver 136 mayfurther communicate between the mobile communication device 133 and/orthe vehicular video camera 134 in the VAN. The mobile communicationdevice 133 may, in some embodiments, include the vehicular transceiver136 and/or the vehicular video camera 134 integrated therewith, and mayoperate to store and/or process video and/or audio produced by the videocamera 134 and/or transmit the captured video and/or audio as a videoand/or audio stream to the portable radio 104, other communicationdevices, and/or the infrastructure RAN 152 for further analysis. Amicrophone (not shown), or an array thereof, may be integrated in thevideo camera 134 and/or at the mobile communication device 133 (oradditionally or alternatively made available at a separate location ofthe vehicle 132) and communicatively coupled to the mobile communicationdevice 133 and/or vehicular transceiver 136 for capturing audio andstoring, processing, and/or transmitting the audio in a same or similarmanner to the video as set forth above.

The vehicle 132 may be a human-operable vehicle, or may be aself-driving vehicle operable under control of the mobile communicationdevice 133 perhaps in cooperation with video camera 134 (which mayinclude a visible-light camera, an infrared camera, a time-of-flightdepth camera, and/or a light detection and ranging (LiDAR) device).Command information and/or status information such as location and speedmay be exchanged with the self-driving vehicle via the VAN and/or thePAN (when the PAN is in range of the VAN or via the VAN's infrastructureRAN link). In some embodiments, devices within the vehicle 132 maycommunicate with devices in other vehicles via a Vehicular to Vehicular(V2V) Network.

The vehicle 132 and/or transceiver 136, similar to the portable radio104 and/or respective receivers, transmitters, or transceivers thereof,may include a location (and/or orientation) determination deviceintegrated with or separately disposed in the mobile communicationdevice 133 and/or transceiver 136 for determining (and storing and/ortransmitting) a location (and/or orientation) of the vehicle 132.

In some embodiments, instead of a vehicle 132, a land, air, orwater-based drone with the same or similar audio and/or video andcommunications capabilities and the same or similar self-navigatingcapabilities as set forth above may be disposed, and may similarlycommunicate with the user's 102 PAN and/or with the infrastructure RAN152 to support the user 102 in the field.

The VAN may communicatively couple with the PAN disclosed above when theVAN and the PAN come within wireless transmission range of one another,perhaps after an authentication takes place there between. In someembodiments, one of the VAN and the PAN may provide infrastructurecommunications to the other, depending on the situation and the types ofdevices in the VAN and/or PAN and may provide interoperability andcommunication links between devices (such as video cameras) and sensorswithin the VAN and PAN.

Although the RSM 106, the laptop 114, and the vehicle 132 areillustrated in FIG. 1A as providing example video cameras and/ormicrophones for use in capturing audio and/or video streams, other typesof cameras and/or microphones could be used as well, including but notlimited to, fixed or pivotable video cameras secured to lamp posts,automated teller machine (ATM) video cameras, other types of body worncameras such as head-mounted cameras, other types of vehicular camerassuch as roof-mounted cameras, or other types of audio and/or videorecording devices accessible via a wired or wireless network interfacesame or similar to that disclosed herein.

In some embodiments, one or more of the user 102, the vehicle 132, theportable radio 104, the RSM video capture device 106, and any otherdevice in FIG. 1A may be equipped with an environmental sensor such as achemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, or explosive (CBRNE)sensor. Measurements made by the CBRNE sensor may be stored locally ortransmitted via a transmitter or transceiver to other communicationdevices and/or to the infrastructure RAN 152.

The system of FIG. 1A includes a dispatch console 158 operated by adispatcher. The dispatch console 158 may include one or more of thedevices described above with respect to the user 102. For example, thedispatch console 158 may include a laptop 114 or another computer withinput devices and a display. In some embodiments, the dispatch console158 includes a portable radio 104 or a stationary radio that functionssimilarly to the portable radio 104. In some embodiments, the dispatchconsole 158 is coupled to a telephone line to allow the dispatcher toreceive calls from public citizens. In some embodiments, the dispatchconsole 158 includes a headset coupled to the portable radio 104 orstationary radio. The headset may be worn by the dispatcher to allow thedispatcher to communicate with callers in a hands-free manner thatallows the dispatcher to simultaneously operate the laptop 114 oranother computer during a call. Other possibilities for devices includedin the dispatch console 158 are possible. While the dispatch console 158was described above with reference to a single dispatcher, in someembodiments, the dispatch console 158 is located at dispatch center thatincludes a plurality of dispatch consoles 158 that are each operated byone or more dispatchers.

The infrastructure RAN 152 is illustrated in FIG. 1A as providingcoverage for the portable radio 104, RSM video capture device 106,laptop 114, smart glasses 116, and/or vehicle transceiver 136 via asingle fixed terminal 154 coupled to a single infrastructure controller156 (for example, a radio controller, call controller, PTT server, zonecontroller, MME, BSC, MSC, site controller, Push-to-Talk controller, orother network device) and including the dispatch console 158 operated bythe dispatcher. In other embodiments, additional fixed terminals andadditional controllers may be disposed to support a larger geographicfootprint and/or a larger number of mobile devices. In some embodiments,a middleware server that translates between a narrowband system and abroadband system is disposed in infrastructure RAN 152 at infrastructurecontroller 156 or at a separate cloud computing cluster 162 communicablycoupled to infrastructure controller 156 via internet protocol (IP)network 160, among other possibilities.

The infrastructure controller 156 illustrated in FIG. 1A, or some otherback-end infrastructure device or combination of back-end infrastructuredevices existing on-premises or in the remote cloud computing cluster162 accessible via the IP network 160 (such as the Internet), mayadditionally or alternatively operate as a back-end electronic digitalassistant, a back-end audio and/or video processing device, and/or aremote cloud-based storage device consistent with the remainder of thisdisclosure.

The IP network 160 may comprise one or more routers, switches, LANs,WLANs, WANs, access points, or other network infrastructure, includingbut not limited to, the public Internet. The cloud computing cluster 162may be comprised of a plurality of computing devices, such as the oneset forth in FIG. 2, one or more of which may be executing none, all, ora portion of an electronic digital assistant service, sequentially or inparallel, across the one or more computing devices. The one or morecomputing devices comprising the cloud computing cluster 162 may begeographically co-located or may be separated by inches, meters, ormiles, and inter-connected via electronic and/or optical interconnects.Although not shown in FIG. 1A, one or more proxy servers or loadbalancing servers may control which one or more computing devicesperform any part or all of the electronic digital assistant service.

As shown in FIG. 1A, database(s) 164 may be accessible via the IPnetwork 160 and/or the cloud computing cluster 162, and may includedatabases such as a long-term video storage database, a historical orforecasted weather database, an offender database perhaps includingfacial recognition images to match against, a cartographic database ofstreets and elevations, a traffic database of historical or currenttraffic conditions, or other types of databases. Databases 164 mayfurther include all or a portion of the databases described herein asbeing provided at the infrastructure controller 156. In someembodiments, the databases 164 may be maintained by third parties (forexample, the National Weather Service or a Department of Transportation,respectively). As shown in FIG. 1A, the databases 164 arecommunicatively coupled with the infrastructure RAN 152 to allow thecommunication devices (for example, the portable radio 104, the RSMvideo capture device 106, the laptop 114, the mobile communicationdevice 133, and the dispatch console 158) to communicate with andretrieve data from the databases 164 via infrastructure controller 156and IP network 160. In some embodiments, the databases 164 arecommercial cloud-based storage devices. In some embodiments, thedatabases 164 are housed on suitable on-premises database servers. Thedatabases 164 of FIG. 1A are merely examples. In some embodiments, thesystem 100 additionally or alternatively includes other databases thatstore different information. In some embodiments, the databases 164and/or additional or other databases are integrated with, or internalto, the infrastructure controller 156.

Finally, although FIG. 1A describes a communication system 100 generallyas a public safety communication system that includes a user 102generally described as a police officer and a vehicle 132 generallydescribed as a police cruiser, in other embodiments, the communicationsystem 100 may additionally or alternatively be a retail communicationsystem including a user 102 that may be an employee of a retailer and avehicle 132 that may be a vehicle for use by the user 102 in furtheranceof the employee's retail duties (for example, a shuttle orself-balancing scooter). In other embodiments, the communication system100 may additionally or alternatively be a warehouse communicationsystem including a user 102 that may be an employee of a warehouse and avehicle 132 that may be a vehicle for use by the user 102 in furtheranceof the employee's retail duties (for example, a forklift). In stillfurther embodiments, the communication system 100 may additionally oralternatively be a private security communication system including auser 102 that may be an employee of a private security company and avehicle 132 that may be a vehicle for use by the user 102 in furtheranceof the private security employee's duties (for example, a privatesecurity vehicle or motorcycle). In even further embodiments, thecommunication system 100 may additionally or alternatively be a medicalcommunication system including a user 102 that may be a doctor or nurseof a hospital and a vehicle 132 that may be a vehicle for use by theuser 102 in furtherance of the doctor or nurse's duties (for example, amedical gurney or ambulance). In still another example embodiment, thecommunication system 100 may additionally or alternatively be a heavymachinery communication system including a user 102 that may be a miner,driller, or extractor at a mine, oil field, or precious metal or gemfield and a vehicle 132 that may be a vehicle for use by the user 102 infurtherance of the miner, driller, or extractor's duties (for example,an excavator, bulldozer, crane, front loader). Other possibilities existas well.

As mentioned previously, many of the devices shown in FIG. 1A (such asthe portable radio 104, the RSM video capture device 106, the laptop114, the mobile communication device 133, the infrastructure controller156, the dispatch console 158, and one or more computing devices in thecloud computing cluster 162) may be referred to as communication devices(for example, a communication device 200 as explained below with respectto FIG. 2). Although FIG. 1A shows multiple communication devices 200associated with the user 102, in some embodiments, the communicationsystem 100 includes communication devices 200 of multiple users. Forexample, as shown in FIG. 1B, the communication device 200A isassociated with a first user, the communication device 200B isassociated with a second user, and the communication device 200C isassociated with a third user. As indicated by FIG. 1B, in someembodiments, the communication devices 200A, 200B, and 200C communicatewith each other over the infrastructure RAN 152 and/or communicate witheach other directly as described previously herein. In some embodiments,one or more users may have multiple associated communication devices200, for example, as shown in FIG. 1A. In some embodiments, the dispatchconsole 158 (which also may be referred to as a communication device200) may directly communicate with other communication devices 200 ofmultiple users through the infrastructure RAN 152. For example, thedispatch console 158 communicates with one or more of the portable radio104, the RSM video capture device 106, the laptop 114, the smart glasses116, and/or the vehicle transceiver 136. In some embodiments, thedispatch console 158 also communicates with the cloud computing cluster162, and the database(s) 164. In some embodiments, the dispatch console158 communicates with another dispatch console 158. For example, thedispatch console 158 is located within a first dispatch center (forexample, a county-wide or state-wide general dispatch center) andcommunicates with another dispatch console 158 located at a seconddispatch center (for example, a police station of city, a fire stationof a city or predefined geographical area within the city, and thelike). In other words, in some embodiments, the dispatch console 158communicates with a public safety command center.

b. Device Structure

FIG. 2 sets forth a schematic diagram that illustrates a communicationdevice 200 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. Thecommunication device 200 may be, for example, embodied in the portableradio 104, the RSM video capture device 106, the laptop 114, the mobilecommunication device 133, the infrastructure controller 156, thedispatch console 158, one or more computing devices in the cloudcomputing cluster 162, or some other communication device notillustrated in FIG. 1A, and/or may be a distributed communication deviceacross two or more of the foregoing (or multiple of a same type of oneof the foregoing) and linked via a wired and/or wireless communicationlink(s). In some embodiments, the communication device 200 (for example,the portable radio 104) may be communicatively coupled to other devicessuch as the sensor-enabled holster 118 as described above. In suchembodiments, the combination of the portable radio 104 and thesensor-enabled holster 118 may be considered a single communicationdevice 200.

While FIG. 2 represents the communication devices described above withrespect to FIGS. 1A and 1B, depending on the type of the communicationdevice, the communication device 200 may include fewer or additionalcomponents in configurations different from that illustrated in FIG. 2.For example, in some embodiments, the communication device 200 acting asthe infrastructure controller 156 may not include one or more of thescreen 205, microphone 220, imaging device 221, and speaker 222. Asanother example, in some embodiments, the communication device 200acting as the portable radio 104 or the RSM video capture device 106 mayfurther include a location determination device (for example, a globalpositioning system (GPS) receiver) as explained above. Othercombinations are possible as well.

As shown in FIG. 2, the communication device 200 includes acommunications unit 202 coupled to a common data and address bus 217 ofa processing unit 203 that includes an electronic processor 213. Thecommunication device 200 may also include one or more input devices (forexample, a keypad, pointing device, a button, a microphone 220, animaging device 221, and/or another input device 206), each coupled to bein communication with the processing unit 203. In some instances, one ormore communication devices 200 include a screen 205 that, in someembodiments, is a touch sensitive screen and thus also acts as an inputdevice.

The microphone 220 may be present for capturing audio from a user and/orother environmental or background audio that is further processed byprocessing unit 203 in accordance with the remainder of this disclosureand/or is transmitted as voice or audio stream data, or as acousticalenvironment indications, by communications unit 202 to other portableradios and/or other communication devices. For example, the microphone220 of the dispatch console 158 captures audio corresponding tocommunication between a dispatcher and a caller during a call as will bedescribed in greater detail below. The imaging device 221 may providevideo (still or moving images) of an area in a field of view of thecommunication device 200 for further processing by the processing unit203 and/or for further transmission by the communications unit 202. Aspeaker 222 may be present for reproducing audio that is decoded fromvoice or audio streams of calls received via the communications unit 202from public citizens or from other portable radios, from digital audiostored at the communication device 200, from other ad-hoc or direct modedevices, and/or from an infrastructure RAN device, or may playback alerttones or other types of pre-recorded audio.

The processing unit 203 may include a code Read Only Memory (ROM) 212coupled to the common data and address bus 217 for storing data forinitializing system components. The processing unit 203 may furtherinclude the electronic processor 213 (for example, a microprocessor oranother electronic device) coupled, by the common data and address bus217, to a Random Access Memory (RAM) 204 and a static memory 216.

The communications unit 202 may include one or more wired and/orwireless input/output (I/O) interfaces 209 that are configurable tocommunicate with other communication devices, such as a the portableradio 104, the laptop 114, the wireless RAN 152, the mobilecommunication device 133, the remote could computing cluster 162, thedatabases 164, and other dispatch consoles 158.

For example, the communications unit 202 may include one or morewireless transceivers 208 configurable to communicate via a wirelessradio network. The communications unit 202 may additionally oralternatively include one or more wireline transceivers 208, such as anEthernet transceiver, a USB transceiver, or similar transceiverconfigurable to communicate via a twisted pair wire, a coaxial cable, afiber-optic link, or a similar physical connection to a wirelinenetwork. The transceiver 208 is also coupled to a combinedmodulator/demodulator 210.

The electronic processor 213 has ports for coupling to the screen 205,the microphone 220, the imaging device 221, the other input device 206,and/or the speaker 222. Static memory 216 may store operating code 225for the electronic processor 213 that, when executed, performs one ormore of the steps set forth in FIGS. 3 and 4 and the accompanying text.In some embodiments, the static memory 216 may store scriptscorresponding to predetermined public safety incidents (for example, acardiopulmonary resuscitation guide) to be used by dispatchers whenhandling calls from public citizens as described above and as will bedescribed in greater detail below. The static memory 216 may comprise,for example, a hard-disk drive (HDD), an optical disk drive such as acompact disk (CD) drive or digital versatile disk (DVD) drive, a solidstate drive (SSD), a tape drive, a flash memory drive, or a tape drive,and the like.

2. Processes for Evaluating Compliance of Communication of a Dispatcher

In some embodiments, an individual component and/or a combination ofindividual components of the system 100 may be referred to as anelectronic computing device that implements an electronic digitalassistant as mentioned above. For example, the electronic computingdevice may be a single electronic processor (for example, the electronicprocessor 213 of a dispatch console 158). In other embodiments, theelectronic computing device includes multiple electronic processorsdistributed remotely from each other. For example, the electroniccomputing device may be implemented on a combination of at least two ofthe electronic processor 213 of the dispatch console 158, the electronicprocessor 213 of the infrastructure controller 156, and the electronicprocessor 213 of a back-end device in the cloud computing cluster 162accessible via the IP network 160.

As one way to use the electronic digital assistant implemented by theelectronic computing device, the microphone 220 of the dispatch console158 may monitor communication between a dispatcher and a caller during acall. The electronic computing device receives audio signalsrepresentative of the communication between the dispatcher and thecaller from the microphone 220 and analyzes the audio signals todetermine the content of the communication between the dispatcher andthe caller. For example, the electronic computing device may include anatural language processing (NLP) engine configured to determine theintent and/or content of a query from the caller. The electroniccomputing device may also be configured to determine a response to thequery (for example, by retrieving stored data or by requesting data froma database such as one of the databases 164) and provide the response toan output device of the communication device 200 (for example, thescreen 205 via a generated text-based response). In other words, one ormore of the communication devices 200, embodied in one or more of thecommunication devices of FIG. 1A, such as the dispatch console 158, theinfrastructure controller 156, and/or the cloud computing cluster 162may include a natural language processing engine to analyzecommunication monitored by the microphone 220 of the dispatch console158 and provide information or assistance to the dispatcher during acall.

Although monitoring of oral communication is described above, in someembodiments, the electronic computing device receives and responds toother types of inputs. For example, the dispatcher may input metadatainto the electronic computing device during a call by typing text into ahard keyboard input device or a soft keyboard input provided on thescreen 205 of the dispatch console 158. For example, the dispatcher mayenter the name of a caller, the location of a caller, details of theincident about which the caller is calling, and the like. The electroniccomputing device may use this metadata to, for example, determine a typeof call as explained in greater detail below.

As mentioned above, depending on the severity level of an incident inwhich a caller is calling for assistance, the speed at which informationfrom the call is relayed to a third party (for example, a firstresponder) may be important. Additionally, when dispatchers deviate froma pre-approved script or proceed through the script too slowly, it maybe indicative that the caller does not understand the information thatthe dispatcher is attempting to convey or that the dispatcher is notconveying accurate or useful information to the caller. In somesituations, the severity level of the incident may increase whendispatchers deviate from the script or proceed through the script tooslowly.

To avoid and solve these problems, the electronic computing device thatimplements the electronic digital assistant may perform a method 300illustrated in FIG. 3 to evaluate compliance of communication of adispatcher and take assistive or corrective action in varioussituations. Among other things, the method 300 may provide a technicalsolution to a technical problem by reducing call backlog that may becaused by high severity calls or a lack of compliance with a script by adispatcher. In other words, by taking assistive or corrective action forhigh severity calls or improperly-handled calls, the method 300 reducescall backlog and network congestion that may decrease the performance ofthe infrastructure RAN 152 in some situations.

FIG. 3 illustrates a flow chart diagram of the method 300 performed bythe electronic computing device for evaluating compliance ofcommunication of a dispatcher. While a particular order of processingsteps, message receptions, and/or message transmissions is indicated inFIG. 3 as an example, timing and ordering of such steps, receptions, andtransmissions may vary where appropriate without negating the purposeand advantages of the examples set forth in detail throughout theremainder of this disclosure.

At block 305, the electronic computing device monitors communicationbetween a dispatcher and a caller during a call. For example, asdescribed above, the electronic computing device may include a naturallanguage processing engine to analyze audio signals of the monitoredcommunication from the microphone 220 of the dispatch console 158 todetermine the content of the monitored communication between thedispatcher and the caller. In some embodiments, the electronic computingdevice is configured to recognize a name of the caller, a location ofthe caller, a health status of the caller or of a victim (for example, agunshot wound of the caller or victim, whether the victim is breathing,whether the victim is conscious, and the like), words related to anincident about which the caller is calling (for example, “fire,”“hostage,” “robbery,” and the like), other keywords that may be used topopulate information fields in an incident report, and the like. Asmentioned above, in some embodiments, the electronic computing devicereceives metadata from an input device of the dispatch console 158operated by the dispatcher. For example, the dispatcher may inputmetadata that is similar to the example information described above bytyping the metadata into a hard keyboard input device or a soft keyboardinput provided on the screen 205 of the dispatch console 158. In someembodiments, the input device may receive a selection of metadata by thedispatcher, for example, from a list of common incidents. For example,the input device may receive a selection from the dispatcher thatindicates the caller is calling about a fire.

At block 310, the electronic computing device determines a type of callbased on one or more of the monitored communication and the metadatareceived via the input device of the dispatch console 158. In someembodiments, the type of call defines the type of information and/orassistance that the caller is seeking. For example, the electroniccomputing device may determine that the type of call is a call relatingto a fire when the electronic computing device determines that thecaller has said the word “fire” multiple times during the monitoredcommunication. As another example, the electronic computing device maydetermine that the type of call is a call relating to a heart attackwhen the caller has said the words “chest pain” and “can't breathe.” Asyet another example, the electronic computing device may determine thatthe type of call is a call where the caller seeks instructions on how toperform cardiopulmonary resuscitation when metadata corresponding to acardiopulmonary resuscitation incident is selected or input by thedispatcher on an input device of the dispatch console 158. In someembodiments, the electronic computing device analyzes both the monitoredcommunication and the metadata to determine the type of call.

At block 315, the electronic computing device determines aconversational procedure based on the type of call. As mentioned above,the static memory 216 may store scripts (for example, a cardiopulmonaryresuscitation guide) to be used by dispatchers when handling calls. Insome embodiments, the scripts include a list of questions or informationthat is to be conveyed by the dispatcher to the caller. With referenceto the cardiopulmonary resuscitation guide example, the correspondingscript may include a list of ordered tasks for the dispatcher to provideto the caller to properly perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation on avictim. The scripts for different incidents may be of different length.For example, the cardiopulmonary resuscitation script may be longer thana script that explains the tasks for handling a first degree burn on avictim.

After determining the conversational procedure based on the type ofcall, in some embodiments, the electronic computing device provides theconversational procedure (in other words, the script) to an outputdevice of a communication device 200 of the dispatcher (in other words,the dispatch console 158). For example, the electronic computing devicemay display the conversational procedure on the screen 205 such that thedispatcher may view the conversational procedure during the call andconvey information included in the conversational procedure to thecaller.

At block 320, the electronic computing device compares a characteristicof the monitored communication to a constraint of the conversationalprocedure. In some embodiments, the characteristic of the monitoredcommunication includes content of the monitored communication asarticulated by the dispatcher. In other words, the electronic computingdevice may monitor the content being conveyed to the caller by thedispatcher. In some embodiments, the constraint of the conversationalprocedure may include a list and order of content (in other words, alist and order of tasks) that is to be articulated by the dispatcher. Bycomparing the words spoken by the dispatcher to the words of theconversational procedure, the electronic computing device is able todetermine whether the dispatcher is deviating from the conversationalprocedure. In some embodiments, the electronic computing devicedetermines whether the words spoken by the dispatcher have similarmeaning as the words of the conversational procedure (for example, useof synonyms when conveying information). In some embodiments, theelectronic computing device determines whether the dispatcher isconveying the tasks listed in the conversational procedure in the properorder. For example, the electronic computing device may provide anotification on the screen 205 when the electronic computing devicedetermines that a task of the conversational procedure has been skippedby the dispatcher.

In some embodiments, the characteristic of the monitored communicationincludes an amount of time that has elapsed since the beginning of thecall. In other words, the electronic computing device may monitor anamount of time that it takes the dispatcher to convey informationincluded in one or more tasks of the conversational procedure or toreceive information from the caller to complete one or more tasks of theconversational procedure. For example, the electronic computing devicemay analyze the words spoken by the dispatcher using the naturallanguage processing engine to determine which task of the conversationalprocedure the dispatcher is currently attempting to complete. In someembodiments, the constraint of the conversational procedure may includean expected amount of time for the dispatcher to articulatepredetermined content of the conversational procedure or completepredetermined tasks of the conversational procedure (such as receivingcertain information from the caller). In some embodiments, theelectronic computing device determines the expected amount of time forthe dispatcher to articulate predetermined content or completepredetermined tasks of the conversational procedure by determining alength of a list of tasks of the conversational procedure and anestimated amount of time to complete each task on the list. By comparingthe amount of time that has elapsed since the beginning of the call withthe expected amount of time for the dispatcher to articulate or receiveinformation included in one or more tasks, the electronic computingdevice is able to determine whether the speed at which the dispatcher isproceeding through the conversational procedure is slower than desiredor faster than desired.

Although the above example monitors time elapsed since the beginning ofthe call, in some embodiments, time may be monitored at additional ordifferent intervals. For example, the electronic computing device maymonitor the time taken for the dispatcher to perform each task of theconversational procedure. In some embodiments, the electronic computingdevice may determine a predicted amount of time that the dispatcher ison pace to take to complete the tasks of the conversational procedure.For example, the electronic computing device may make this determinationbased on an amount of time it has taken the dispatcher to proceedthrough one or more of the first tasks of the conversational procedureand the expected amount of time to perform each of the tasks that havealready been performed and each of the tasks that have yet to beperformed. Such a determination is another example technique that theelectronic computing device may use to determine the speed at which thedispatcher is proceeding through the conversational procedure.

At block 325, the electronic computing device determines that thecharacteristic of the monitored communication is outside the constraintof the conversational procedure. When the characteristic of themonitored communication includes the content of the monitoredcommunication as articulated by the dispatcher, the electronic computingdevice determines that the words spoken by the dispatcher have adifferent meaning than the words of the conversational procedure. Insome embodiments, the electronic computing devices makes thisdetermination when a predetermined percentage of words spoken by thedispatcher do not correspond to at least one of the words of theconversational procedure or synonyms of the words of the conversationalprocedure. In some embodiments, the natural language processing enginemay analyze the words spoken by the dispatcher to determine whether thecontent of the words spoken by the dispatcher corresponds to the wordsof the conversational procedure.

When the characteristic of the monitored communication includes theamount of time that has elapsed since the beginning of the call, theelectronic computing device may determine that the speed at which thedispatcher is proceeding through the conversational procedure is slowerthan a desired speed. In some embodiments, the electronic computingdevice may determine that the speed at which the dispatcher isproceeding through the conversational procedure is slower than thedesired speed by a predetermined amount (for example, by one minute orthe like). In such embodiments, the electronic computing device allowsthe dispatcher to proceed through the conversational procedure at aspeed that is slower than desired but may take action (at block 330)when the speed at which the dispatcher is proceeding through theconversational procedure is slower than the desired speed by apredetermined amount. In such embodiments, when the electronic computingdevice determines that the dispatcher is, for example, one minute behindthe desired speed for proceeding through the conversational procedure,the electronic computing device determines that the characteristic ofmonitored communication is outside the constraint of the conversationalprocedure.

In some embodiments, the electronic computing device compares multiplecharacteristics of the monitored communication to respective constraintsof the conversational procedure. For example, the electronic computingdevice may determine that both the content of the monitoredcommunication as articulated by the dispatcher and the amount of timethat has elapsed since the beginning of the call are outside therespective constraints of the conversational procedure (at block 325).Continuing this example, because the electronic computing device ismonitoring multiple characteristics of the monitored communication, theelectronic computing device may use less stringent individualconstraints of the conversational procedure than when a singlecharacteristic of the monitored communication is compared to itsconstraint of the conversational procedure. For example, the electroniccomputing device may proceed to block 330 to take action when thedispatcher is deviating from the conversational procedure in only aminor manner and when the dispatcher is also, for example, thirtyseconds behind the desired speed for proceeding through theconversational procedure.

In some embodiments, the method 300 remains at block 320 to continuecomparing the characteristic of the monitored communication to theconstraint of the conversational procedure until the electroniccomputing device determines that the characteristic of the monitoredcommunication is outside the constraint of the conversational procedure(at block 325).

At block 330, the electronic computing device takes an action as afunction of determining that the characteristic of the monitoredcommunication is outside the constraint of the conversational procedure.In some embodiments, the action includes the electronic computing devicetransmitting, via the transceiver 208 for example, information gatheredfrom the monitored communication to a communication device 200 of afirst responder as a function of determining that the characteristic ofthe monitored communication is outside the constraint of theconversational procedure. For example, the electronic computing devicemay transmit the location of the incident and the type of incident tothe communication device 200 of the first responder while the dispatcheris still communicating with the caller. In this example, the dispatcheris able to continue to communicate and provide instructions to thecaller and does not have to hold communication with the caller todispatch the first responder to the location of the incident. In otherwords, the electronic computing device transmits information to thecommunication device 200 of the first responder in parallel with thedispatcher communicating with the caller. Other examples of informationgathered from the monitored communication that may be transmitted to thecommunication device 200 of the first responder include a name of thecaller, a health status of the caller, and a health status of a victimabout whom the caller is calling. In some embodiments, the electroniccomputing device may determine a recommended route to the location ofthe caller from a location of the communication device 200 of the firstresponder. In such embodiments, the electronic computing device maytransmit the recommended route to the communication device 200 of thefirst responder. In some embodiments, the electronic computing devicemay additionally or alternatively transmit the metadata entered by thedispatcher to the communication device 200 of the first responder.

In some embodiments, the information transmitted to the communicationdevice 200 of the first responder is transmitted directly from thedispatch console 158, via the RAN 152, to the communication device 200of the first responder. In other embodiments, the informationtransmitted to the communication device 200 of the first responder istransmitted indirectly. For example, the dispatch console 158 maytransmit the information to a public safety command center (for example,a police station, a fire station, and the like) that forwards theinformation to the communication device 200 of the first responder viathe RAN 152.

In some embodiments, the action taken by the electronic computing device(at block 330) includes providing additional and/or different contentfor at least some of the questions and/or information included in theconversational procedure. For example, when the electronic computingdevice determines that the dispatcher has repeated the same informationseveral times, the electronic computing device may provide suchinformation in a rephrased manner and/or may provide additional detailson such information. In other words, the electronic computing device mayprovide additional and/or different content to an output device of thecommunication device 200 of the dispatcher that may allow the caller tobetter understand the information attempted to be conveyed to thecaller. As one example, when assisting the caller with a situationinvolving cardiopulmonary resuscitation, the conversational procedureinstructs the dispatcher to instruct the caller to “pump the victim'schest.” However, the caller may not understand this instruction so thedispatcher may repeat the same instruction several times. After theelectronic computing device determines that the dispatcher has repeatedthe same instruction, for example, four times, the electronic computingdevice may change the instruction to instruct the dispatcher to say,“place your hands on the victim's chest and push down quickly forapproximately one half of a second.” In this example, the changedinstruction may allow the caller to understand the dispatcher such thatthe dispatcher may continue to proceed through the conversationalprocedure.

In some embodiments, the action taken by the electronic computing device(at block 330) includes switching the call between the dispatcher andthe caller to a communication device 200 of a second dispatcher (inother words, a second dispatch console 158) as a function of determiningthat the characteristic of the monitored communication is outside theconstraint of the conversational procedure. For example, when theelectronic computing device determines that the dispatcher has beenunable to complete the first task of the conversational procedure (forexample, obtaining the name or location of the caller) within apredetermined amount of time, the electronic computing device may switchthe call to another dispatch console 158 to be handled by anotherdispatcher. In some situations, switching dispatchers may allow thesecond dispatcher and the caller to better understand each other suchthat information is obtained from the caller more quickly.

In some embodiments, the action taken by the electronic computing device(at block 330) includes providing a notification on an output device(for example, the screen 205) as a function of determining that thecharacteristic of the monitored communication is outside the constraintof the conversational procedure. For example, as described above, theelectronic computing device may provide a notification on the screen 205when the electronic computing device determines that a task of theconversational procedure has been skipped by the dispatcher. Such anotification may remind the dispatcher to return to and complete theskipped task before proceeding with the remainder of the conversationalprocedure. As another example, the electronic computing device mayprovide a notification on the screen 205 when the speed at which thedispatcher is proceeding through the conversational procedure is slowerthan desired. Such a notification may prompt the dispatcher to attemptto acquire information from the caller more quickly and proceed throughthe conversational procedure more quickly. In some embodiments, when theelectronic computing device transmits information to a communicationdevice 200 of a first responder or switches the call to a communicationdevice 200 of a second dispatcher, the electronic computing device alsoprovides a notification on the screen 205 to notify the dispatcher ofsuch action. In other embodiments, the electronic computing device doesnot provide a notification to the dispatcher in such situations.

As explained above, in some situations, the dispatcher deviating fromthe conversational procedure and/or proceeding through theconversational procedure at a slower speed than desired may beindicative that the caller does not understand the information that thedispatcher is attempting to convey or that the dispatcher is notconveying accurate or useful information to the caller. Such calls maytake longer than expected or desired to be handled by the dispatcher andmay cause call backlog and network congestion that may decrease theperformance of the infrastructure RAN 152 in some situations.Accordingly, when the electronic computing device takes action as afunction of determining that the characteristic of the monitoredcommunication is outside the constraint of the conversational procedure(at block 330), such action reduces the call backlog and networkcongestion on the infrastructure RAN 152 by assisting dispatchers tocomplete calls they are handling more quickly.

As another way to solve the above technological problem in a similarmanner, the electronic computing device that implements the electronicdigital assistant may additionally or alternatively perform a method 400illustrated in a flowchart diagram of FIG. 4. The method 400 is executedby the electronic computing device to determine a severity level of acall and take an action to assist the dispatcher when the severity levelexceeds a predetermined severity level threshold. In some embodiments,the method 300 may be at least partially performed as a sub-methodwithin the method 400 as explained below. While a particular order ofprocessing steps, message receptions, and/or message transmissions isindicated in FIG. 4 as an example, timing and ordering of such steps,receptions, and transmissions may vary where appropriate withoutnegating the purpose and advantages of the examples set forth in detailthroughout the remainder of this disclosure.

At block 405, the electronic computing device determines a severitylevel of a call between the dispatcher and a caller based on at leastone of the group consisting of a type of call, a comparison of acharacteristic of the monitored communication to a constraint of aconversational procedure, and a stress level of a voice of the caller.In some embodiments, when executing block 405, the electronic computingdevice performs similar functions as described above with respect toblocks 305, 310, 315, and 320 of the method 300 of FIG. 3 as explainedabove. For example, the electronic computing device monitors thecommunication between the dispatcher and the caller during the call(similar to block 305) and determines the type of call based on one ormore of the monitored communication and metadata received via the inputdevice (similar to block 310). The electronic computing device alsodetermines the conversational procedure based on the type of call(similar to block 315) and compares a characteristic of the monitoredcommunication to a constraint of the conversational procedure (similarto block 320).

In addition to this functionality that is similar to the method 300, atblock 405, the electronic computing device determines a stress level inthe voice of the caller. For example, the natural language processingengine may analyze at least one of a pitch, a frequency, and a volume ofthe voice of the caller to determine the stress level of the caller. Asan example, when the caller is determined to be breathing heavily and isspeaking at a high volume, the electronic computing device may determinethat the caller has a high stress level. As another example, when thecaller is determined to be speaking at a volume consistent with normaltelephone conversation and is speaking at a speed consistent with normalhuman conversation, the electronic computing device may determine thatthe caller has a low stress level.

Using at least some of the above-noted information relating to the call,at block 405, the electronic computing device determines the severitylevel of the call. In some embodiments, the electronic computing devicedetermines the severity level by generating an average or a weightedaverage of scores associated with each piece of the above-notedinformation. For example, the electronic computing device may generate ascore on a scale of, for example, one to ten that indicates the severitylevel of the call based on each piece of the above-noted information.

For example, different types of calls may be determined to havedifferent severity level scores. As an example, when the call relates toa cat stuck in a tree, the electronic computing device may determinethat a severity level score for the incident type is one. However, whenthe call relates to a person having a heart attack, the electroniccomputing device may determine that a severity level score for theincident type is eight.

Similarly, different comparisons of the characteristic of the monitoredcommunication to the constraint of the conversational procedure (asexplained above in the method 300) may be determined to have differentseverity level scores. For example, when the comparison indicates thatthe dispatcher is following the conversational procedure and isproceeding through the conversational procedure at a speed that isfaster than the expected amount of time to articulate predeterminedcontent, the electronic computing device may determine that a severitylevel score for the comparison is two. On the other hand, when thecomparison indicates that the dispatcher is deviating from theconversational procedure and is proceeding through the conversationalprocedure at a speed that is slower than the expected amount of time toarticulate predetermined content, the electronic computing device maydetermine that a severity level score for the comparison is nine. Insome embodiments, the electronic computing device may adjust theseverity level score for the comparison based on the length of theconversational procedure. For example, when the conversational procedureis long and involves tasks that are expected to take multiple minutes,the electronic computing device may increase the severity level scorefor the comparison by, for example, two points.

Similarly, different stress levels of the voice of the caller may bedetermined to have different severity level scores. For example, whenthe caller is determined to have a high stress level, the electroniccomputing device may determine that a severity level score for the voiceof the caller is eight. However, when the caller is determined to have alow stress level, the electronic computing device may determine that aseverity level score for the voice of the caller is three.

In some embodiments, the electronic computing device may take an averageor a weighted average of the severity level scores for each of theabove-noted pieces of information explained above to determine aseverity level of the call (for example, on a scale of one to ten). Insome embodiments, additional information may also be used to determinethe severity level of the call (for example, estimated time arrival of afirst responder near the location of the incident, stress level in thevoice of the dispatcher, and the like). In some embodiments, theseverity level of the call is dynamic and changes during the call. Inother words, the electronic computing device may continue to monitor thecommunication between the dispatcher and the caller to determine whetherthe type of call has changed, whether the dispatcher is following theconversational procedure in a timely manner, and whether the stresslevel of the voice of the caller has changed. When any of thisinformation changes, the electronic computing device may update theproper severity level score(s) and determine an updated severity levelof the call.

At block 410, the electronic computing device compares the severitylevel of the call with a predetermined severity level threshold. Forexample, the electronic computing device compares the average of theseverity level scores described above to a predetermined severity levelthreshold (for example, six out of ten). When the severity level of thecall is less than the severity level threshold, the method 400 repeatsblocks 405 and 410 to dynamically determine the severity level of thecall as explained above.

At block 415, the electronic computing device determines that theseverity level of the call exceeds the predetermined severity levelthreshold. Continuing the example above, in such a situation, theelectronic computing device has determined that the average of theseverity level scores described above is greater than or equal to six.In some embodiments, the electronic computing device may determine totake action (at block 420) when one of the severity level scores of theabove-noted pieces of information is very high (for example, nine orten) even though the overall severity level of the call (in other words,the average of the severity level scores) is below the predeterminedseverity level threshold.

At block 420, the electronic computing device takes an action inresponse to determining that the severity level of the call exceeds thepredetermined severity level threshold. The action taken by theelectronic computing device may be similar to the example actionsexplained above with respect to block 330 of FIG. 3.

As an example implementation of the method 400, the caller may becalling to request instructions on how to handle a non-fatal bleedingwound. Based on a low stress level of the voice of the caller and thedispatcher accurately and timely proceeding through the first tasks ofthe conversational procedure corresponding to how to handle a non-fatalbleeding wound, the electronic computing device may determine not totake action to assist the dispatcher. However, in continuing to monitorthe call, the electronic computing device may determine that the callerwas unable to get the wound to stop bleeding within an expected amountof time in accordance with the conversational procedure. In such asituation, the electronic computing device may determine that theseverity level of the call has increased above the predeterminedseverity level threshold and may take action in response to the severitylevel increase. For example, the electronic computing device maytransmit information gathered from the monitored communication betweenthe dispatcher and the caller to a communication device 200 of a firstresponder in response to determining that the severity level of the callexceeds the predetermined severity level threshold. As one example, theelectronic computing device may dispatch the first responder to thelocation of the caller to aid the caller with the bleeding wound.

As another example implementation of the method 400, the caller may be amother whose child is not breathing. The electronic computing device maydetermine that this type of incident is potentially fatal and that thestress level of the voice of the caller is very high. Accordingly, theelectronic computing device may determine that the severity level of thecall is very high (for example, nine or ten) and exceeds thepredetermined severity level threshold. In response to thisdetermination, the electronic computing device may dispatch a firstresponder to the location of the caller as soon as the location of thecaller is determined. While the electronic computing device iscommunicating information to a communication device 200 of the firstresponder, the dispatcher may simultaneously be communicating with thecaller to convey, for example, the steps to perform cardiopulmonaryresuscitation. In this example, the electronic computing devicedetermines the severity level of the call (at block 405) and takesaction (at block 420) without evaluating compliance of communication ofthe dispatcher.

In the foregoing specification, specific embodiments have beendescribed. However, one of ordinary skill in the art appreciates thatvarious modifications and changes may be made without departing from thescope of the invention as set forth in the claims below. Accordingly,the specification and figures are to be regarded in an illustrativerather than a restrictive sense, and all such modifications are intendedto be included within the scope of present teachings.

The benefits, advantages, solutions to problems, and any element(s) thatmay cause any benefit, advantage, or solution to occur or become morepronounced are not to be construed as a critical, required, or essentialfeatures or elements of any or all the claims. The invention is definedsolely by the appended claims including any amendments made during thependency of this application and all equivalents of those claims asissued.

Moreover in this document, relational terms such as first and second,top and bottom, and the like may be used solely to distinguish oneentity or action from another entity or action without necessarilyrequiring or implying any actual such relationship or order between suchentities or actions. The terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “has,”“having,” “includes,” “including,” “contains,” “containing” or any othervariation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, suchthat a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises, has,includes, contains a list of elements does not include only thoseelements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherentto such process, method, article, or apparatus. An element proceeded by“comprises . . . a,” “has . . . a,” “includes . . . a,” or “contains . .. a” does not, without more constraints, preclude the existence ofadditional identical elements in the process, method, article, orapparatus that comprises, has, includes, contains the element. The terms“a” and “an” are defined as one or more unless explicitly statedotherwise herein. The terms “substantially,” “essentially,”“approximately,” “about” or any other version thereof, are defined asbeing close to as understood by one of ordinary skill in the art, and inone non-limiting embodiment the term is defined to be within 10%, inanother embodiment within 5%, in another embodiment within 1% and inanother embodiment within 0.5%. The term “coupled” as used herein isdefined as connected, although not necessarily directly and notnecessarily mechanically. A device or structure that is “configured” ina certain way is configured in at least that way, but may also beconfigured in ways that are not listed.

It will be appreciated that some embodiments may be comprised of one ormore generic or specialized processors (or “processing devices”) such asmicroprocessors, digital signal processors, customized processors andfield programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) and unique stored programinstructions (including both software and firmware) that control the oneor more processors to implement, in conjunction with certainnon-processor circuits, some, most, or all of the functions of themethod and/or apparatus described herein. Alternatively, some or allfunctions could be implemented by a state machine that has no storedprogram instructions, or in one or more application specific integratedcircuits (ASICs), in which each function or some combinations of certainof the functions are implemented as custom logic. Of course, acombination of the two approaches could be used.

Moreover, an embodiment may be implemented as a computer-readablestorage medium having computer readable code stored thereon forprogramming a computer (for example, comprising a processor) to performa method as described and claimed herein. Examples of suchcomputer-readable storage mediums include, but are not limited to, ahard disk, a CD-ROM, an optical storage device, a magnetic storagedevice, a ROM (Read Only Memory), a PROM (Programmable Read OnlyMemory), an EPROM (Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory), an EEPROM(Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory) and a Flashmemory. Further, it is expected that one of ordinary skill,notwithstanding possibly significant effort and many design choicesmotivated by, for example, available time, current technology, andeconomic considerations, when guided by the concepts and principlesdisclosed herein will be readily capable of generating such softwareinstructions and programs and ICs with minimal experimentation.

The Abstract of the Disclosure is provided to allow the reader toquickly ascertain the nature of the technical disclosure. It issubmitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpretor limit the scope or meaning of the claims. In addition, in theforegoing Detailed Description, it may be seen that various features aregrouped together in various embodiments for the purpose of streamliningthe disclosure. This method of disclosure is not to be interpreted asreflecting an intention that the claimed embodiments require morefeatures than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as thefollowing claims reflect, inventive subject matter lies in less than allfeatures of a single disclosed embodiment. Thus the following claims arehereby incorporated into the Detailed Description, with each claimstanding on its own as a separately claimed subject matter.

We claim:
 1. An electronic computing device comprising: an input device;a transceiver; and one or more electronic processors communicativelycoupled to the transceiver, the one or more electronic processorsconfigured to monitor communication between a dispatcher and a callerduring a call related to a public safety incident, determine a type ofcall based on one or more of the monitored communication and metadatareceived via the input device, wherein the type of call indicates a typeof the public safety incident, determine a conversational procedurebased on the type of call, wherein the conversational procedure includesa script configured to be used by the dispatcher to handle the callrelated to the public safety incident, compare a characteristic of themonitored communication to a constraint of the conversational procedure,wherein the characteristic of the monitored communication includescontent of the monitored communication as articulated by the dispatcher,and wherein the constraint of the conversational procedure includes alist and order of content that is to be articulated by the dispatcher,determine that the characteristic of the monitored communication isoutside the constraint of the conversational procedure, and take anaction as a function of determining that the characteristic of themonitored communication is outside the constraint of the conversationalprocedure.
 2. The electronic computing device of claim 1, wherein theone or more electronic processors are further configured to determine aseverity level of the call based on at least one of the group consistingof the type of call, a comparison of the characteristic of the monitoredcommunication to the constraint of the conversational procedure, and astress level of a voice of the caller; compare the severity level of thecall with a predetermined severity level threshold; determine that theseverity level of the call exceeds the predetermined severity levelthreshold; and transmit, via the transceiver, information gathered fromthe monitored communication to a communication device of a firstresponder in response to determining that the severity level of the callexceeds the predetermined severity level threshold.
 3. The electroniccomputing device of claim 2, wherein the information gathered from themonitored communication includes at least one of the group consisting ofa name of the caller, a location of the caller, a recommended route tothe location of the caller, a health status of the caller, a healthstatus of a victim, and the type of the public safety incident.
 4. Theelectronic computing device of claim 1, wherein the characteristic ofthe monitored communication further includes an amount of time that haselapsed since the beginning of the call, and the constraint of theconversational procedure further includes an expected amount of time forthe dispatcher to articulate predetermined content of the conversationalprocedure.
 5. The electronic computing device of claim 4, wherein theone or more electronic processors are configured to determine theexpected amount of time for the dispatcher to articulate thepredetermined content of the conversational procedure by determining alength of the list and an estimated amount of time to complete each taskon the list.
 6. The electronic computing device of claim 1, wherein theaction is at least one of the group consisting of: transmitting, via thetransceiver, information gathered from the monitored communication to acommunication device of a first responder as a function of determiningthat the characteristic of the monitored communication is outside theconstraint of the conversational procedure; and switching the call to acommunication device of a second dispatcher as a function of determiningthat the characteristic of the monitored communication is outside theconstraint of the conversational procedure.
 7. The electronic computingdevice of claim 6, wherein the one or more electronic processors arefurther configured to provide a notification to an output device of acommunication device of the dispatcher that indicates that theinformation gathered from the monitored communication has beentransmitted to the communication device of the first responder.
 8. Theelectronic computing device of claim 1, wherein the one or moreelectronic processors are further configured to provide the conversationprocedure to an output device of a communication device of thedispatcher.
 9. The electronic computing device of claim 1, wherein theone or more electronic processors are further configured to determinethat the dispatcher has repeated information more than a predeterminedamount of times; wherein the action taken by the one or more electronicprocessors includes, in response to determining that the dispatcher hasrepeated the information more than the predetermined amount of times, atleast one of the group consisting of providing the information in arephrased manner to an output device of a communication device of thedispatcher and providing additional details related to the informationto the output device of the communication device of the dispatcher. 10.A method of evaluating compliance of communication of a dispatcher, themethod comprising: monitoring, with an electronic computing device,communication between the dispatcher and a caller during a call relatedto a public safety incident; determining, with the electronic computingdevice, a type of call based on one or more of the monitoredcommunication and metadata received via an input device, wherein thetype of call indicates a type of the public safety incident;determining, with the electronic computing device, a conversationalprocedure based on the type of call, wherein the conversationalprocedure includes a script configured to be used by the dispatcher tohandle the call related to the public safety incident; comparing, withthe electronic computing device, a characteristic of the monitoredcommunication to a constraint of the conversational procedure, whereincomparing the characteristic of the monitored communication to theconstraint of the conversational procedure includes comparing content ofthe monitored communication as articulated by the dispatcher to a listand order of content that is to be articulated by the dispatcher;determining, with the electronic computing device, that thecharacteristic of the monitored communication is outside the constraintof the conversational procedure; and taking an action, with theelectronic computing device, as a function of determining that thecharacteristic of the monitored communication is outside the constraintof the conversational procedure.
 11. The method of claim 10, furthercomprising: determining, with the electronic computing device, aseverity level of the call based on at least one of the group consistingof the type of call, a comparison of the characteristic of the monitoredcommunication to the constraint of the conversational procedure, and astress level of a voice of the caller; comparing, with the electroniccomputing device, the severity level of the call with a predeterminedseverity level threshold; determining, with the electronic computingdevice, that the severity level of the call exceeds the predeterminedseverity level threshold; and transmitting, via a transceiver,information gathered from the monitored communication to a communicationdevice of a first responder in response to determining that the severitylevel of the call exceeds the predetermined severity level threshold.12. The method of claim 11, wherein transmitting the informationgathered from the monitored communication to the communication device ofthe first responder includes transmitting information that includes atleast one of the group consisting of a name of the caller, a location ofthe caller, a recommended route to the location of the caller, a healthstatus of the caller, a health status of a victim, and the type of thepublic safety incident.
 13. The method of claim 10, wherein comparingthe characteristic of the monitored communication to the constraint ofthe conversational procedure further includes comparing an amount oftime that has elapsed since the beginning of the call to an expectedamount of time for the dispatcher to articulate predetermined content ofthe conversational procedure.
 14. The method of claim 13, furthercomprising determining the expected amount of time for the dispatcher toarticulate the predetermined content of the conversational procedure bydetermining a length of the list and an estimated amount of time tocomplete each task on the list.
 15. The method of claim 10, whereintaking the action includes at least one of the group consisting of:transmitting, via a transceiver, information gathered from the monitoredcommunication to a communication device of a first responder as afunction of determining that the characteristic of the monitoredcommunication is outside the constraint of the conversational procedure;and switching the call to a communication device of a second dispatcheras a function of determining that the characteristic of the monitoredcommunication is outside the constraint of the conversational procedure.16. The method of claim 15, further comprising providing a notificationto an output device of a communication device of the dispatcher thatindicates that the information gathered from the monitored communicationhas been transmitted to the communication device of the first responder.17. The method of claim 10, further comprising providing theconversational procedure to an output device of a communication deviceof the dispatcher.
 18. The method of claim 10, further comprisingdetermining that the dispatcher has repeated information more than apredetermined amount of times; wherein taking the action includes, inresponse to determining that the dispatcher has repeated the informationmore than the predetermined amount of times, at least one of the groupconsisting of providing the information in a rephrased manner to anoutput device of a communication device of the dispatcher and providingadditional details related to the information to the output device ofthe communication device of the dispatcher.